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KEN FIDLIN, QMI Agency

May 21, 2012

, Last Updated: 8:24 PM ET

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. - While Jesse Litsch is still experiencing discomfort some three months after being sidelined with shoulder inflammation, there is still belief in the Toronto Blue Jays organization that he can bounce back and be an effective pitcher.

Litsch himself expressed concern in a Sportsnet interview Monday that his career may be in jeopardy because of a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection that caused an infection in the shoulder when he visited famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala.

Andrews had prescribed the injection to hasten the healing process for what was believed to be simple inflammation. In all cases of injection, there is a slight chance of infection and Litsch was unfortunately one of the unlucky ones.

After the infection was cleared up, Litsch started on a throwing program but is still experiencing pain in the shoulder. He has since had a follow-up examination by Dr. Lewis Yocum, of Los Angeles, and the MRI didn’t show any structural damage.

“While he’s in the early phases of a throwing program and still feeling some discomfort, we took the next step to take some additional blood tests to make sure the infection is completely gone,” said Blue Jays manager John Farrell. “We’re still awaiting those results.

“Obviously it’s unfortunate that he’s had to deal with the situation. The contracting of the infection upon the PRP injection, while any injection carries a risk associated with the potential infection, it does exist. But at the same time, the treatment he received after contracting the infection has taken that out of there. We’re still waiting, when he was still experiencing some discomfort he was sent out to see Dr. Yocum as a second opinion. The MRI didn’t show any structural damage.

“I don’t know that for any of these situations there is a clear-cut template. Every case is going to be a little bit different. But hopefully this isn’t a career-ending injury.

“This is a good pitcher and like many guys they go through some injuries that they’ve got to correct and hopefully there’s every step taken to date that puts him in line to do that. Hopefully we get him back in the not too distant future.”

Litsch was a longshot to make the Blue Jays pitching staff this spring but even that small opportunity was quickly taken away from him with this injury and subsequent infection. While the MRI reveals no structural damage in the shoulder, he continues to experience pain.

“Pitching is a game of attrition and you don’t want to be so cold towards that, but it’s an unnatural movement,” said Farrell, whose own career was undermined by shoulder injuries.

“Guys’ bodies react differently to the workloads and the amount of innings but hopefully with the medicine and the expertise that are available, we can rectify the situation.”